Technical Field
The present invention relates to a wheelchair excellent in applicability and versatility configured to be transformed between a folding wheelchair and a non-folding wheelchair by selecting and replacing parts, such that the wheelchair is usually used as the non-folding wheelchair suitable for, especially, disabled persons who commute to school or work, participate in social activities, and the like, while being transformed into the folding wheelchair as needed so that the wheelchair is compactly folded to be portable, the wheelchair thus eliminating the necessity of preparing two types of wheelchairs such as folding wheelchair and non-folding wheelchair.
Related Art
Typical wheelchairs are roughly categorized into two types such as folding wheelchairs and non-folding wheelchairs. For instance, for commuting to school or work and participating in social activities, non-folding wheelchairs are used due to superior robustness thereof.
Meanwhile, folding wheelchairs, which are easily portable, are used for, for instance, indoors (e.g., hospital) and traveling for a short distance from indoor to a vehicle.
Further, when a user goes to a distant place by vehicle, train, or the like, a wheelchair will be needed in the destination. In this case, a folding wheelchair is used, since a non-folding wheelchair is difficult to carry.
A typical folding wheelchair is exemplified by a wheelchair as disclosed in JP 7-112009 A, which includes right and left side frames and a seat support frame connecting the right and left side frames such that the right and left side frames are foldable.
The above typical techniques entail the following problems.
(1) A typical folding wheelchair as exemplified in JP 7-112009 A can be taken to a variety of places and easily used due to the light weight and easy foldability thereof, reducing the burden on a caregiver. However, such a wheelchair is not comfortable to sit in due to the poor rigidity and insufficient robustness thereof and thus not suitable for long-time use.(2) Accordingly, while a non-folding wheelchair is favorably used for commuting to school or work, participating in social activities, and the like due to the superior robustness thereof, a folding wheelchair will need to be used if the non-folding wheelchair is difficult to take to a distant travel destination. Thus, two types of wheelchairs (i.e., folding wheelchair and non-folding wheelchair) need to be prepared in advance so that these wheelchairs are selectively used depending on, for instance, intended use, purpose, and place to use. This increases the burden on a user and/or a caregiver.
An object of the invention, which is intended to solve the above conventional problems, is to provide a wheelchair excellent in assembly/disassembly efficiency, maintenanceability, applicability, and versatility configured to be easily transformed between a folding wheelchair and a non-folding wheelchair by selecting and replacing parts, such that the wheelchair being usually used as the non-folding wheelchair suitable for, especially, disabled persons who commute to school or work, participate in social activities, and the like, while being transformed into the folding wheelchair as needed so that the wheelchair is compactly folded to be portable, the wheelchair thus eliminating the necessity of preparing two types of wheelchairs (i.e., folding wheelchair and non-folding wheelchair) and reducing the burden on a user and/or a caregiver.